3. I have chosen to use these three
magazines’ front covers, contents
pages and double page spreads to show
how I have used, developed or
challenged forms and conventions of
real media products in my own media
product.
I have chosen to use NME, Q and
Kerrang as I believe they all are similar
to the genre of my magazine.
Real Media
Products
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4. Q4
Masthead
My front cover uses conventions of real media products as I have used a bold masthead. Real media products such as
NME, Kerrang and Q, which have the same sub-genre as my music magazine, have a bold masthead also.
This creates a strong brand identity as it stands out to the reader, attracts them and sticks in their mind. I have used
the conventions of real media products as I have situated the masthead at the top of the mise-en-scene like in
Kerrang, NME and Q.
I have also challenged the conventions of the mastheads of the other media products because part of my main
image covers some of the masthead.This won’t disturb the brand identity of my media product because the
audience will be so familiar with the product the won’t need to see the whole of the masthead to see what it is.
Front Cover
5. Banners
My front cover uses conventions of real media products as I have used a banner at the top and a footer at the bottom of
the mise-en-scene like in NME and Kerrang but not Q.This is to promote the smaller cover features of the magazine.
The head banner is one of the first conventions of the magazine front cover that the audience sees, so is a good place to
advertise extra things the magazine has to offer. NME and Kerrang have advertised their competitions or free products in
their head banner where as I have developed this to remind the audience about regular features in my magazine.
My front cover develops but also uses conventions of real media products because I have put the text of the banner and
footer into a coloured text box to stand out from the background like Kerrang but NME has left the text against the
background. I have used bold text like in both of the real media products and two different colours for the text like in
NME. I have used these conventions in order to make sure the banner stands out to my audience.
Kerrang’s head banner NME’s head banner
My head banner
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6. Q4Banners
The footer banner is one of the last conventions of the magazine front cover that the audience sees.This is a good
opportunity to advertise what other smaller features are in the magazine. On the footer I have not used the word ‘plus’ like
on NME and Kerrang, I have challenged this by just using the ‘+’ sign.This allows the text of the features to stand out with
out any additional text over powering it. I have also developed conventions of media products as I have used star shapes as
bullet points rather than an average bullet points like NME.This is to show that the bands mentioned in the feature are well
known and are important to the magazine as the stars connote Hollywood and being famous, however the shapes are plain
and basic in order to show how they are taken seriously by the magazine.
NME alternates the font colour in their footer, where as I have challenged this by keeping my font the same colour of white
but I have broken up the text by making the star bullet points a contrasting colour, like Kerrang have but with ‘+’ signs rather
than a star.This keeps the text easy to read but still allows it to stand out.
Kerrang’s footer banner NME’s footer banner
My footer banner
7. Banners
However, I have challenged the front
cover of Q because it doesn’t have a
header or footer banner.
The banner is situated to the right side
of the mise-en-scene, where as I’ve
decided to use this space for a main
cover feature so I believe I have also
developed the front cover of Q as I have
two banners rather than one and more
space for main cover features.
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8. Main Cover Feature
My front cover uses conventions of real media products as I have used a main
cover feature. Real media products such as NME, Kerrang and Q have main cover
feature’s too. I have included a title, a pull quote and a subtitle (this provides extra
information and anchors the main image that relates to the cover story).
I have developed Kerrang and Q’s main cover feature because I have situated it on
top of the main image to show the relation between the image and the feature. I
have used the same convention as NME because both cover features are on top of
the main image.
I have used capitalised text for my whole main feature like Kerrang and Q.This
emphasises the feature and attracts the attention of the reader. However, I have
challenged this of NME because the pull quote is in lower case where as mine isn’t.
The capitalisation shows that what the artist has said in the interview is being
exclaimed, attracting the audience.
I have used different colour text and different sized fonts in my main cover feature
for certain information to stand out against others to attract the reader and these
conventions have been used in the real media products.The biggest piece of text is
the mian cover feature title and NME and Q have also coloured this differently to
the rest of the text where as Kerrang hasn’t but has used a completely different
font. All the colours used are part of the magazines’ house style colour scheme.
Kerrang’s
main cover
feature
NME’s
main cover
feature
Q’s main c
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